' '  Independence  Forever ' ' 


UINCY 

Old  Braintree 
Merry-Mount 

AN  ILLUSTRATED  SKETCH 

By 

DANIEL  MUNRO   WILSON 


Price.lMBf  cents 


The  town  of  Quincy, —  the  home  of  Wheelwright  and  Codding- 
ton;  the  birthplace  of  Hancock,  the  Adamses,  and  the  Quincys; 
a  spot  to  be  held  in  everlasting  remembrance  in  the  history  of 
religious  and  civil  liberty. —  John  G.  Palfrey. 


QU  INCY    GUIDE 


FROM  QUINCY  CENTRE,  SOUTHW^ARD 

Old  Burying  ground,  Graves  of  Henry  Adams,  the  Quincys,  Rev.  John  Hancock, 
Joanna  Hoar. 

Stone  Temple  (1828),  House  of  Worship  of  First  Church  of  Christ  (1639),  Tombs 
of  John  Adams  and  Abigail  Adams,  John  Quincy  Adams  and  Louisa  Calli 
arine  Adams.     Memorial  Tablets.     Small  admission  fee  for  attendant. 

I     mile.     Birtliplaces  of  John  Adams  {l63i)  and  John  Q.  Ad;inis  (r7i6).    Small 
admission  fee. 

i}4  mile.  Abigail  Adams  Cairn.  Erected  June  17,  1896,  on  spot  where  Mrs. 
Adams  and  the  little  John  Quincy  v.-atched  the  battle  flame  and  smoke 
of  Bunker  HUl. 


FROM  QUINCY  CENTRE,  NORTHWARD 

X  mile.     Adams  Academy,  site  of  birthplace  of  John  Hancock. 

}i  mile.     Quincy  Homestead  (1636),  birthplace  of   Dorothy  •    to  tlie 

public  Saturdays,  admission  fee  other  days. 

',   mile.     Adams  Mansion  (1731),  home  of  the  Presidi  1  arles  Francis 

Adams,  of  Brooks  Adams.     Private. 

yi  mile.     Presidents'  Lane,  oppc)site  the  Mansion. 

2  miles.  Josiah  Quincy  Mansion  (1770);  Quincy  Mansion  School;  Avenue 
shaded  with  four  rows  of  fine  elms.  Trolley  for  Norfolk  Downs 
("  Massachu.setts  Fields  ")  passes  both  mansions  on  the  way  to  Boston 
and  Squantum. 

4^  miles.    Squantum.     Landing-place  of  Myles  Standish ;  Myles  ^tandish  Cairn  ; 
Profile  Rock. 

FROM  QUINCY  CENTRE,  EASTWARD 

?}  mile.     Merry-Mount.     Grounds  of  Mrs.  John  Q.  Adams.     Private. 

:■■}  mile.  Mount  Wollaston  Cemetery.  Close  to  the  foot  of  Merry-Mount. 
Burial-place  of  Charles  Francis  Adams,  John  Quincy  Adams. 

%  mile.    Merry-Mount  Park.    Beautiful  shore.     Merry-Mount  near  by. 

All  points  reached  by  trolley.     Carriages  at  station. 

It  is  also  convenient  to  start  from  Quincy  Adams  Station,  walk  the  quarter- 
mile  to  the  Presidents'  birthplaces,  then  take  trolley  to  the  Burying-ground  and 
church  at  the  Centre.  From  here  it  is  half-mile  to  the  Quincy  Homestead  and 
Adams  Mansion. 


UK' r; s : 


Orders  for  this  Sketch  may  be  addressed  to 

LYMAN  A.  CHAPIN 

Qluncy,  Mass. 

Per  copy,  25  cents;  postpaid,  30  cents.  Extra  fine  paper,  35 
cents;  postpaid,  40  cents.  Cloth  bound,  50  cents;  postpaid, 
56  cents. 


%j  \j  \j  u      u  I  u  iv  n  i\  ' 


OUINCY,  OLD  BRAINTREE, 
AND   MERRY-MOUNT 

y^/7  Illustrated  Sketch 


By   DANIEL  MUNRO   WILSON 


THK  OI.l)  CKDAR  OF  MEKKY-MOliNT 


Boston 

Press  of  Geo.   H.   Eli. is  Co. 

I  906 


SUMMIT  OF  SQUANTUM,  OR  SQUAW  ROCK 


FOREWORD. 


This  sketch  is  published  in  response  to  a  demand  for  a  "Souvenir 
of  Quincv"  with  many  ilhistrations  and  popular  in  price.  Something 
of  the  kind  woidd  inevitably  be  issued.  Hence  a  cogent  consideration 
was  that  a  sympathetic  compilation  and  selection  of  photographs 
from  ample  materials  would  compass  what  is  desired — a  production 
really  worthy  of  the  city — more  satisfactorily  than  one  emanating 
chiefly  from  commercial  motives.  Many  conspired  with  this 
liberal  view  of  things  to  the  extent  of  generously  offering  suggestions 
and  furnishing  facts  and  photographs.  To  Mr.  James  L.  Edwards, 
treasurer  of  the  Quincy  Historical  Society,  I  am  especially  indebted 
for  material  belonging  to  his  private  collection  or  confided  to  his 
care.  Photographs  have  been  loaneil  by  ^Ir.  Henry  F.  Guild,  for- 
merly of  Atlantic;  Mr.  Wendell  G.  Corthell;  the  city  clerk,  Mr, 
Harrison  A.  Keith;  Mr.  Julius  Johnson;  Mrs.  W.  S.  Blanchard,  and 
C.  B.  Webster  &  Co.,  the  Boston  firm  which  has  photographed  so 
many  of  Quincy's  famous   houses. 

DANIEL   MUNRO  WILSON. 

Patriots'  Day.  1906. 

Copyright,  1906,  by 
Daniel  Munro  Wilson. 


^, 


tv 


»,v,. 


if  V'' 


DOROTHY   HANCOCK  WALL  I'APER 


"  And  gLidly  would  we  note  the  nohle  lives. 
The  names  whose  memory  in  this  place  survives 
In  golden  gleams  along  the  historic  thread 
That  binds  the  living  to  the  iniiiiorlal  dead: 
Those  who  through  stormy  days  of  battles  grim 
The  strugglintr  nation's  counsels  wisely  led; 
And  when  her  pathway  grew  perplexed  and  dim. 
And  help  wa.s  far,  and  hope  seemed  almost  fled. 
Lifted  her  dniopiiig  head." 

Christopher  I'carse  Crunch. 

T  1\CY  sits  enthroned  upon  lier  hills  by  the  sea,  nour 


listiniiuislicd   anioii"'   the  most   famous;    the   one  civic 


unit    in   the  United  States  \vliich   has  given  two  Presi- 
^^^    dents   to   the  nation;   cliosen  home  of  Independence; 


i)irth|)lace  of  the  first  siiiuer  of  the  immortal  Declara- 
tion; native  soil  of  other  far-famed  leaders  in  statecraft,  literature, 
and  education, — slie  is  also  astir  with  the  masterful  spirit  of  this  twenti- 


eth  centiuv.  Great  in  the  days  that  are  gone,  because  of  a  hap])y 
colonization  of  noble  souls;  great  in  the  days  that  are  to  come  she 
promises  to  be,  because  of  the  people  and  the  enterprises  attracted 
bv  the  singular  advantages  of  her  commanding  hills  and  her  sinuous 
shores. 

FOR  beauty  of  situation,  Quincy  is  not  surpassed  by  any  other 
town  or  city  fronting  Massachusetts  Bay.     The  winding  Ne- 
ponset  on  the  north  separates  her  from  Boston,  and  the  Fore 
River  on  the   south  from  Weymouth.     All  between,  the   coast    line 


.a»4V«»i«; 


VIEW   FROM  H()U(4H\S  NECK 


wanders  in  and  out  urountl  heatUands  and  inlets,  lengthening  beyond 
that  of  any  other  sea-laved  town  in  the  Commonwealth.  Inland,  the 
disposition  of  hill  and  upland  level  seems  exquisitely  ordered  to 
afford  the  finest  views  of  the  shiniTueriug  bay,  and  the  far-spreading 
j)lain  of  ocean,  widening  to  the  horizon,  blue  as  the  sky. 


^'*V;^c^l'*S;3IIE  first  white  men  who  hmdcd  on  these  fortunate  shores 


were  jitinosphered  by  the  h)veliness  of  sea  and  hind 
dee|)eiiin<;  tlin)u<;h  rare  September  days.  At  tliat 
time  of  the  year  a  party  of  Pilgrims  left  Plymouth  on 
an  exj)loring  expedition,  led  by  Captain  Myles  Stan- 
dish.  "Crossing  the  sweet  air  from  isle  to  isle  over 
the  silent  streams  of  a  ealm  sea.""  they  came  to  what  is,  perhaps, 
the  most  attractive  bit  of  scenery  to  be  found  for  miles,^the  rocky 
headland  then  and  there  named  Squantum  in  honor  of  the  friendly 
Indian    guide    S(|uanto.     So    delighted    were    the    Pilgrims   with   all 


MOSWETUSET   HIMJIOCK 


they  saw  that  they  wished  that  "they  had  be(>n  ther  seated."  This 
landing  was  made  Sept.  30,  IG^l,  and  the  event  has  been  commemo- 
rated by  the  erection  of  the  INIyles  Standish  cairn  by  the  Regent  of  the 
Adams  Chapter,  I).  R.,  ]Mrs.  Nelson  V.  Titus.  At  the  dedication 
Monday,  Sept.  30,  1895,  Charles  F.  Adams,  the  younger,  who  de- 
livered the  |)riiicipaladdre.ss,  praised  in  equal  terms  the  sturdy  Plym- 
outh Captain  anil  the  faithful  S(|uanto.  Tliis  also  was  the 
burden  of  the  words  spoken  by  Mrs.  Titus,  Mrs.  William  Lee, 
Regent  of  the  D.  R.  of  Massachusetts,  and  ex-Mayor  Charles  H. 
Porter. 


6 


Standish  was  seeking  the  Sachem  of  the  Massachusetts  tribe  of 
Indians,  who,  it  was  surmised,  might  be  found  on  the  ancient  planting 
ground  of  his  race,  the  meadows  since  called  "  Massachusetts  Fields," 
ornear  "  Moswetuset  Hummock,"  his  tradi- 
tional seat  of  rule.  Here,  on  this  rocky  islet, 
surrounded  by  its  sea  of  salt  marsh  and  the 
brown  sands  of  the  shore,  was  the  council 
fire  of  the  native  tribe  from  which  our  State 
takes  that  name  which  has  been  made  "a 
name  and  a  praise  in  all  the  earth."  "  God 
save  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts!" 

"  The  Sachem  of  the  bay,  by  Squantum's  shore, 
Held  o'er  his  feathered  warriors  sway  of  yore: 
There  stood  his  wigwam  in  the  hummock's  shade. 
There  the  maize-tassels  with  the  breezes  played. 
There  the  red  hunter  chased  the  antlered  game, — 
Thence  Massachusetts  took  her  honored  name." 


William  P.  Lunt. 


MVLE.S  ,STAM)l.sa  C.UKN 


OR  the  first  settlement  upon  Quincy  territory  we  come 
down  to  the  year  16^5,  when  Captain  Wollaston  es- 
tablished a  trading  post  on,  or  close  by,  the  hillock 
since  known  as  Mount  Wollaston.  In  his  absence  his 
rebellious  servants,  led  by  Thomas  Morton,  "that 
])ettifogger  from  Furnival's  Inn,"  flung  off  all  authority, 
declared  their  independence,  every  man  doing  what 
was  right  in  his  own  eves.  On  Mav  Dav,  16''27,  tliev  flaunted  their 
freedom  in  the  sight  of  solemn  Puritanism  by  setting  up  the  far- 
famed  May-pole.  Hilariously  these  unleashed  pagans  from  the  pur- 
lieus of  the  gross  court  of  King  James  danced  about  the  "idoll"  of 
Merry-Mount,  joining  hands  with  "the  lasses  in  beaver  coats,"  and 
singing  their  riljald  songs.  For  this,  and  also  because  they  sold  arms 
to  the  savages,  Myles  Standish,  with  his  army  of  eight  men  from 
Plymouth,  scattered  them  and  arrested  Morton. 


SCANDALOUS,  this  entire  episode, — very  scandalous!  almost  as 
had  as  the  dehauehes  of  some  present  sons  of  the  Puritans! 
Hut  what  resident  of  Quinev  wouhl  have  it  buried  in  oblivion? 
It  savors  of  romance,  it  has  a  toucli  of  the  picturesque,  it  anticipates 
the  free  camaraderie  of  the  Western  cowboy,  it  distinguishes  us  in 
storv.  Is  not  Hawthorne's  "May-pole  of  Merrv-^Iount  '  a  classic? 
and  is  not  Motley's  "  Merry-iNIount  "  a  name  in  American  literature? 
Fortunately,  the  little  hill  has  been  left  to  nature.  There  it  is  on  the 
estate  of  Mrs.  John  Qnincy  Adams  just  as  it  was  wiicn  it  was  over- 
topped bv  the  May-pole,  "a  i^oodly  |)ineof  eighty  foot,  ...  a  faire  sea 
mark  for  direc- 
tions, howto  find 
out  the  way  to 
mine  host  of 
Ma-re-Mount.  " 
Agenerationago 
it  was  treeless, 
save  for  the  tail 
bent  stem  of  a 
single  agetl  ce- 
dar. Now  the 
hill  is  clothed 
with  young  trees, 
all  but  the  sum- 
Tuit.  A  land- 
mark it  is  still; 
the   scene    of    a 

comedy  not  to  be  forgotten.  It  has  become  our  "Mons  Sacer."  not 
only  on  account  of  that  earliest  event  in  our  history,  but  because  on  the 
seal  of  the  city  of  Quincy  it  figures  as  the  chief  device.  When,  in  1882, 
the  committee  appointed  to  present  a  design  for  the  seal  was  con- 
sidering the  matter,  George  W.  Morton,  one  of  its  members,  sug- 
gested to  the  ])resent  Charles  F.  Adams,  who  was  chairman,  that 
ISIount  Wollaston  with  the  single  bent  cedar  would  be  both  apj)ropriate 
and  pictures((uc.  Mr.  Adams  at  once  adopted  the  idea.  A  sketch  of 
the  hill.  i)arrcn  as  it  then  was,  had  been  made  a  littl(>  more  than  fiftv 


MEKKVMOUNT,   HOME  OF   MRS.   J.   0.    ADAMS 


Juhn  Q.  Adams 


John  Adams 
BIRTHPLACES  OF  THE   PRESIDENTS 
From  a  sketch  in  1S22 


Home  of  Josepli  Marsh 


HIHIUPLACES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  FROM  A  RECENT  PHOTOliKAPH 


9 


years  before  by  Geortje  W.  Beale,  Jr.  From  this  sketch  was  taken 
the  salient  feature, — the  sumniit  of  tht-  hill  with  its  tree  and  the  sea 
beyond.  Dates  were  then  set  down,  and  for  motto  Mr.  Adams  cliose 
the  Latin  woid  Mciiicf," h  remains."  A  most  sati.sfactory  achieve- 
ment. The  iiill  remains,  connecting  the  i)r(>s(Mit  with  the  past;  the 
town  remains,  continnous  in  its  history  and  development;  the  free 
spirit  of  it  remains;  the  fame  of  it  remains,  and  will  remain  forever. 
The  tree  does  not  remain.  It  was  blown  down  in  a  storm  Nov. 
10,  1898.  Sliortly  before  a  chance  snap-shot  was  taken  of  it  by  Chas. 
E.  Sampson,  and  this,  l)y  another  happy  chance,  was  seen  by  J.  L. 
Edwards,  who  enlarged  it.  Later,  in  behalf  of  the  Quincy  Historical 
Society,  he  ])laced  a  granite  marker  where  the  tree  had  stood. 

The  trunk  is  thirty-three  feet  long,  and  seven  and  a  half  feet 
arovind  the  l)utt.  Why  not  make  of  part  of  it  a  chair  of  state  for  our 
Council  Hall,  which  shall  seat  our  worthy  mayor,  James  Thomj)son, 
and  his  successors.^  It  may  come  to  be  so  valued  that,  like  an- 
other "royal  seat  of  Scone,"  Jvingdoms  will  ultimately  contend  for  it. 


|TIE  ])ermanent  settlement  of  Quincy  can  boast  of 
no  such  natural  monument  nor  dramatic  opening 
scene.  Nevertheless,  significant  was  this  event.  In 
l!i(>  souls  of  tliose  earnest  ])i()n(HM-s  wlio  souglit  liberty 
and  homes  of  peace  in  flic  wilderness  were  Declara- 
tions of  Independence,  and  Free  Constitutions.  Their 
memorial  is  now  visible  to  the  discerning  eye,  in  a  Mighty  Democ- 
racy enfranchising  the  world.  "  Who,  then,"  asks  John  Adams,  "was 
the  autlior.    inventor,  discoverer,   of  Inde])endence  .'^     The   only  true 


M 
I. 

3 
?5 


ai 


11 

answer  must   ho   tlie    first   ininiiijraiits."     They  wore  of  that   liap])y 
hreed  of  men  through  whoso  rii^litooiis  aspirations  tlio  Iroasurod  nohlo- 
ness  of  England  streamed  into  a  Commonwealth  there  and  here. 
Such  wore  the  fathers  of  Old  Braintree  and  Quincv,  as  of  Plvm- 


JOHN   ADAMS 


outh  and  Salem  an<l  Boston,  and  every  other  rijrht  New  Entrland 
eomnnijiity.  Their  manhood,  intelligence,  and  independenee  glow 
in  every  |)age  of  the  town's  history;  their  names  are  on  our  hills,  and 
they  linger  still  in  our  homes:  Bass,  Saville,  Spear,  ('ranch,  iJaxtcr, 
Marsh,     I'enniman,    Croshy,     Mrackett.     Xeweomb,    Fenno,     Vesey, 


12 

Cleverley,  Faxon,  Crane,    Curtis,  Hobart,  Arnold,  Glover,  Nightin- 
gale, Hayden,  Tirrel,  Billings,  and 

"One  name  illustrious,  which  shall  never  fade; 
Joined  with  another  of  an  old  renown, — 
The  name  that  blends  with  Harvard's  classic  shade, 
And  syllables  your  old  famiUar  town." 

THAT  "name  illustrious"  was  first  brought  to  these  shores  by 
Henry  Adams.  He  probably  arrived  here  in  IGSS  with  the 
Braintree  Company,  which  began  to  "sit  down"  at  ]\Iount  Wol- 
laston,  as  the  entire  region  between  Boston  and  Weymouth  was  then 
called.  Although  the  company  was  ordered  elsewhere,  enough  re- 
mained to  influence  the  settlement  to  name  itself  Braintree  when  it 
was  incorporated  as  a  town  in  1640.  With  Henry  came  his  wife, 
eiglit  sons,  and  a  daughter.  After  his  death,  in  1646,  most  of  the  sons, 
vigorous  pioneers  that  they  were,  sought  the  greater  spaciousness  of 
file  frontier,  and  settled  in  Concord  and  Medfield.  Joseph,  the 
seventh  son,  remained  on  the  farm.  He  married  Abigail  Baxter,  by 
whom  he  had  twelve  children.  His  second  son,  another  Joseph, 
married  Hannah  Bass,  and  it  is  through  him  that  the  Adamses  come 
to  the  full  strength  of  fibre  and  fame. 

Here,  then,  after  the  overflow  from  Boston,  which  began 
about  1631,  were  the  Makers  of  America, — a  whole  townful  of 
them.  Theirquality  was  made  entirely  dominant  by  the  fine  strain  of 
"Great  Mother"  Joanna  Hoar,  widow  of  the  Sherift' of  Gloucester, 
England.  One  of  her  daughters,  Joanna,  married  the  second  Edmund 
Quincy;  another,  Marjorie.  married  Minister  Flynt;  a  son,  Leonard, 
who  married  Bridget,  daughter  of  the  Lord  Lisle  who  was  President 
of  the  Court  which  condemned  King  Charles,  became  the  third  Presi- 
dent of  Harvard  College;  and  another  son,  John,  who  removed  to 
Concord,  is  the  ancestor  of  the  family  made  famous  by  Senator  George 
F.  Hoar  and  Judffe  E.  R.  Hoar.  Later  came  the  Cranches  from 
England,  the  Hardwicks  and  Breislers  from  Germanv,  and  the  Han- 
cocks  from  Lexington.  As  the  sands  of  the  sea  for  multitude  are  the 
excellent  and  the  eminent  of  to-day  whose  soul's  substratum  is  traced 
to  the  stream  of  Old  Braintree  and  Quincv  immigrants. 


13 


^1?^:r;|^;^:'r    is   said    of   John    Adams,  the    Deacon,  son   of   the 


r^C i)^^ ".r^'  second  .Iose|)h,  that  he  was  a  man  typical  of  the  farmer 
v^'(^«|^'^ i'K^  chiss.  Had  he  received  a  college  edncation,  wrote 
^fe'^^i'?W?ST>^^J  President  John  QuiTicy  Adams,  "he  wonld  have  been 


■  ^-^ f ;  y'' v^.^  dislinmiished  either  as  a  cler(rvman  or  as  a   lawver.' 


Ilis  eldest  .son  John,  horn  Oct.  t!),  1735,  didjre- 
ceive  the  college  edncation,  and  not  only  became  a  lawyer,  but 
the  great  statesman  of  the  Revolution,  the  chief  advocate  of  Inde- 
pendence, and  the  second  President  of  the  United  States. 


m.P   KnCUKX.  H(i>n'.  hK  .KHIN  ANI>  AHKiAll.  ADAMS 

TlIK  house  in  which  John  Adams  was  born  is  the  unpretentious 
farm-house  of  the  period.  Its  original  rural  surroundings 
j)ictured  in  the  sketch  made  by  Miss  Eliza  Susan  Quincy  in  18'-2'-2, 
mav  be  revived  with  a  little  aid  from  the  imagination, — the  old 
Plvnioutli  highway,  the  wide-spreading  '"  ('a])tain"s  Plain,"  through 
which  meandered  the  tree-fringed  brook,  the  sunnnits  of  tiie  Hlue 
Hills,  rising  range  above  range  to  the  highest  land  in  eastern  Massa- 
chusetts,  the  sj)arsely  scattered    homes   of  the   neiglil)()rs,   in   one   of 


14 

which  was,  as  Miss  Quincv  wrote,  "a  hi(;;hly  respectable  school, 
kept  for  many  years  by  Mr.  Joseph  Marsh,  at  which  John  Adams 
and  Josiah  Quincy.  Jr.,  were  prepared  for  college."  All  lovely,  then, 
was  the  green  unspoiled  earth,  and  in  keeping  the  homes  which  nestled 
close  to  it:  to-day  how  humble  the  "little  hut."  as  he  himself  called 
it,  in  which  the  President  was  born!  Humble,  truly,  yet  a  shrine  for 
meditation  and  for  the  elevation  of  thought!  The  more  meagre  the 
material  surroundings, the  mightier  the  man  who  emerged  from  them. 
John  Adams  was,  indeed,  one  of  the  greatest  in  a  supreme  epoch  of 
human  historv.  Not  another  leader  of  that  eventful  time,  not  ^Yash- 
ington,  nor  Franklin,  nor  Jefferson,  surpassed  him  in  prophetic  an- 
ticipation of  an  Independent  America,  nor  did  any  equal  him  in  the 
indomitable  patience  and  power  of  persuasion  which  eventually  won 
the  Declaration.  New  ages  were  in  him.  a  new  humanity  in  his  sense 
of  natural  rights.  How  clearly  he  voiced  the  daring  aspirations  of 
that  time  and  all  time!   of  "radical  New  England,"  how  profoundly! 

"I  am  the  trumpet  at  thy  Hps,  tliy  chiriou 
Full  of  thy  ory,  sonorous  with  thy  breath." 

THE  birthplace  of  such  a  man  is  a  Mecca  of  the  free;  the  goal 
of  jjilgrimages  far  drawn  and  yearly  becoming  more  frequent. 
Still  in  the  possession  of  its  original  owners,  the  care  of  the 
birthplace  of  John  Adams  has  been  intrusted  to  the  Adams  Chapter, 
D.  R.  With  enlightened  sympathy  they  conserve  every  sentiment, 
everv  antique  plenishing  which  will  restore  this  Cradle  of  American 
Independence. 

One  such  shrine  is  enough  to  enrich  a  town.  Quincy  has  two. 
The  similar  structure  so  close  by  is  the  house  to  wliich  John  Adams 
took  his  wife  Abigail  when  he  married  her,  the  '•25th  of  October,  1764. 
It  is  the  home  in  which  John  Quincy  Adams  was  born.  Two  Presi- 
dents of  the  highest  order,  by  native  greatness  forging  to  the  front 
in  the  creative  hour  when  God  was  making  a  new  Nation!  It  is  a 
irrace  which  falls  to  no  other  communitv.  Fortunate  the  place, 
"this  blessed  plot,  this  earth,"  dowered  with  lives  so  great  and  high, 
with  patriots  of  such  utter  faithfulness. 

Jiotli  houses  came  into  the  possession  of  John  Adams.     The  one 


15 

in  wliich  Abij^ail  and  lie  l)e<jati  housrkeepinp;  was  hiiilt  in  171(5,  and 
was  left  him  by  his  father,  together  with  forty  acres  of  land,  when  he 
died  in  1761.  Later  he  bought  of  his  brother  "my  father's  home- 
stead and  home  where  I  was  born."  This  was  built  in  l(iS7.  The 
Quincy  Historical  Society  occupies  the  "John  and  Abigail  Adams 
cottage,"  and  their  ajjpreciative  restorations  are  exemplified  in  the 
picture  of  the  "old  kitchen." 


AlilGAlL    AllA.M.S 

ABKiArii  AD.VMS,  the  mistress  of  this  expanding  domestic 
establishment,  was  a  woman  worthy  in  all  respects  to  be  the 
wife  of  John  Adams.  Heautiful  was  she  in  face  and  soul; 
a  wise,  loving,  and  gracious  daughter  of  New  England.  She  was 
the  daughter  of  the  Rev.  William  Smith,  of  Weymouth.  Her  mother 
was  a  (Quincy,  a  daughter  of  Colonel  John  (Quincy  and  Elizabeth 
Norton,  his  wife,  who  lived  on  the  farm  at  Mount  Wollaston.  This 
is  the  bond  of  kinslii])   which   unites  the  Adamses  and   (he  Quincys. 


16 

Solemnly  was  that  bond  honored  at  the  baptism  of  the  first  child 
of  John  and  Abigail  Adams,  born  July  11,  1767.  Mrs.  Smith, 
the  mother  of  Abigail,  was  present,  and  she  requested  that  the  child 
should  be  named  John  Quincy,  after  her  father,  then  breathing  his 
last  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight.  Long  afterwards  President  John 
Quincy  Adams  wrote  as  follows  of  this  transaction:  "It  was  filial 
tenderness  that  gave  the  name.  It  was  the  name  of  one  passing 
from  earth  to  immortality.     These  have  been  among    the  strongest 


DRAWING-ROOM   IN  ADAMS    MANSION 


links  of  my  attachment  to  the  name  of  Quincy,  and  have  been  to  me 
through  life  a  perpetual  admonition  to  do  nothing  unworthy  of  it." 


COLONEL  JOHN  QUINCY  was  in  his  day  a  man  of  eminence, 
strong  in  his  personality,  able  and  highly  honored;   one  of  the 
greatest  of  the  Quincys.     He  was  the  son  of  Daniel  Quincy, 
the   first-born   of   Ednumd    Quincy    and    Joanna   Hoar.     Thus   the 


17 

Adamses  tlirougli  liiiii  inliciit.  iiol  only  tlir  fine  (niality  of  the  Quincys 
at  their  best,  hut  also  the  white  tire  of  clear  intellectual  and  moral 
fervor  which  flamed   in   the  souls  of   the   "(ireat    Mother""   Joanna 


•lnllN   (.UINCY  MOMMK.M 


Hoar  and  her  offsprinfj.  (\)lonel  John  Quincy,  nctt  the  least  amoufj^ 
these  oll'sprini^,  was  chosen  to  ahout  every  office  a  colonist  niiijht  fill. 
A  monument   has    been   placed   over  his  grave   in   the  old   burying- 


18 

gi-ound  by  the  Quincy  Historical  Society,  and  a  mural  tablet  to  his 
memory  is  to  be  added  to  those  which  adorn  the  walls  of  First 
Church,  our  Westminster  Abbey. 

More  imperishably  is  his  memory  honored,  perhaps,  in  the  name 
of  the  City  of  Quinty.  When,  in  1792,  the  North  Precinct  of  Brain- 
tree  was  erected  into  an  independent  township,  the  Hon.  Richard 
Cranch  "recommended  its  being  called  Quincy,  in  honor  of  Col- 
onel John  Quincy." 


LET   us   return   now   to   his    namesake,    John    Quincy    Adams. 
Helpful  to  his  mother  beyond  his  years  in  those  tiying  days 
of     the    opening    Revolution,    he    feai'lessly    becomes,    when 
barely  nine  years  old,   her   "post  rider,"  going  on  horseback   alone 

over  the  eleven  long  miles  to 
Boston.  He  was  a  year  young- 
er than  this  when,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  17th  of  June,  1775. 
he  climbed  with  his  mother 
to  the  top  of  Penn's  Hill  to  see 
what  they  might  of  the  battle 
going  on  at  Charlestown. 

On  the  spot  where  Abigail 
Adams  and  the  young  John 
Quincy  sought  to  penetrate  the 
portent  which  darkened  the 
horizon,  a  cairn  has  been  erec- 
ted. This  was  done  on  the 
anniversary  of  the  battle  in 
1896.  The  large  concourse  of 
Quincy  residents  and  visitors 
needed  but  the  scene  the  mother 
and  son  looked  upon,  and  the 
words  of  the  speakers,  to  be  thrille<l  with  imaginations  of  that  fateful 
morningwhen,  as  the  roar  of  cannon  rose  and  fell,  Abigail  Adams  prayed 
Almighty  God  to  cover  the  heads  of  her  countrymen  and  be  a  shield 
to  her  dear  friends.     In  deepest  sympathy  with  all  that  the  memory 


AHIGAIL    ADAMS    CAIRN 


■,M^ 


?^mi  * 


ADAMS    .MANSION 


ADAMS  MANSIDN-NEW  (iATE 


20 

of  the  occasion  evoked,  the  Adams  Cliaj^ter,  D.  R.,  arranged  the 
exercises  of  the  day.  Mrs.  N.  V.  Titus,  the  Regent  of  the  Chapter, 
presided,  and  introduced  those  whose  knowledge  of  the  great  events 
of  the  past  or  whose  relationship  to  some  of  the  chief  actors  in  them 
singled  them  out  as  eminently  qualified  to  take  a  leading  part.  The 
corner-stone  was  laid  by  the  Chapter,  assisted  by  the  present  Abigail 
Adams,  daughter  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  who,  in  the  performance 
of  her  part  of  operative  masonry,  made  use  of  the  trowel.  Addresses 
were  delivered  by  Charles  F.  Adams,  2d,  then  Mayor  of  Quincy, 
Edwin  W.  JNlarsh,  and  Charles  F.  Adams,  the  younger.  A  poem 
was  read  by  Miss  Elizabeth  Porter  Gould,  and  was  deposited  with 
other  documents  in  the  corner-stone. 

^X  that  memorable  ITtli  of  June  when  Abigail  Adams 
and  her  son  trembled  for  their  friends  who  were 
gloriously  fighting  and  dying  for  liberty,  John 
Adams,  at  the  Continental  Congress  in  Philadelphia, 
was  securing  the  election  of  Washington  as  Com- 
mander-in-Chief of  the  patriot  army.  It  was  the 
stroke  of  a  statesman,  which  cemented  the  union  of  North  and 
South,  thus  committing  all  the  Colonies  to  the  war  for  freedom. 
The  crowning  achievement  of  John  Adams  came  a  year  later, 
at  which  time  he  stimulated  Congress  to  the  momentous  Declara- 
tion of  Independence.  In  him  above  all  others  the  conviction  of 
its  necessity  was  incarnated.  For  it  he  wrought  night  and  day. 
Finally,  on  the  first  day  of  July,  1776,  he  led  off  in  a  speech  of  sur- 
passing eloquence,  and  a  "power  of  thought  and  expression  which," 
said  Jefferson,  "moved  themembers  from  their  seats."  He  was  the 
"Colossus  of  that  Congress,"  as  Jefferson  testified,  the  "Atlas  of 
Independence,"  as  Richard  Stockton  declared.  He  compelled  con- 
viction, and,  at  last,  on  the  2d  of  July  the  resolutions  of  indepen- 
dency were  unanimously  adopted.  The  preparation  of  the  immor- 
tal Declaration  had  been  previously  submitted  to  a  committee  con- 
sisting of  Jefferson,  Adams,  Franklin,  Sherman,  and  Livingston, 
and  on  the  evening  of  the  4th  of  July  it  was  adopted  with  equal 
unanimity. 


21 


ELATED  and  tliankfiil  was  John  Adams.  In  a  burst  of  ex- 
ultation ho  wrote  to  Mrs.  Adams:  "The  "2(1  day  of  July,  1776, 
will  be  the  most  memorable  epoch  in  the  history  of  America. 
I  am  apt  to  believe  that  it  will  be  celebrated  by  succeedinff  genera- 
tions as  the  great  anniversary  festival.  It  ought  to  be  commem- 
orated, as  the  day  of  deliverance,  by  solenm  acts  of  devotion  to  God 
Almighty.     It  ought  to  be  solemnized  with  pomp  and  parade,  with 


CITV   HOSPITAL 
Gift  f.f  Hon.  William  B.  Rice 


shows,  games,  sports,  guns,  bells,  bonfires,  and  illuminations,  from 
one  end  of  the  continent  to  the  other,  from  this  time  forward,  for- 
evermore."  So  the  event  has  been  celebrated,  l)ut  the  4th  of  July, 
the  date  of  the  adoption  of  the  Declaration,  is  the  one  the  people 
recognize  as  the  culminating  moment  of  the  great  event. 

Trumbuirs  picture  of  the  signing  of  the  Declaration  is  true  to  the 
life.  John  Adams,  viewing  it  in  Faneuil  llall  in  his  later  years,  re- 
called that,  when  engaged  in  the  signing,  a  side  conversation  took  place 


22 

between  Harrison,  who  was  remarkably  corpulent,  and  Elbridge 
Gerry,  who  was  remarkably  thin.  "Ah,  Gerry,"  said  Harrison, 
"I  shall  have  an   advantage  over  vou   in  this  act."     "How  so.'" 


ADAMS  ACADEMY 


1 

liili 

K_.._ 

^5^ 

PRESIDENI-.S'    LANE 


infjuircd  Gerry.  "Why,"  re))lied  Har'ison,  "when  we  come  to  be 
hung  for  this  treason,  I  am  so  heavy,  I  shall  })lump  down  upon  the 
rope  and  be  dead  in  an  instant;  but  vou  are  so  licjht  that  vou  will 
be  dangling  and  kicking  about  for  an  hour  in  the  air." 


23 

The  high  U'vel  of  nol)le  devotion  to  human  liberty  and  to  a  greater 
America  which  John  A(hims  took  Uj)()n  liis  entrance  into  Congress, 
he  maintained  to  the  end.  He  toiled  terribly.  lie  was  a  memlier 
of  ninety  committees,  and  chairman  of  twenty-five.  No  other  dele- 
gate bore  upon  his  shoulders  the  weight  of  so  heavy  a  burden.  Truly, 
he  was  the  "Atlas  of  Independence."  It  was  he.  also,  who  induced 
Congress  to  foster  a  navy,  and  who  himself  drew  uj)  its  rules.     And 


here  it  is  worth  noting  that  John  Adams  and  John  Quincy  Adams 
never  failed  lo  evince  their  salt-water  breeding.  Both  took  an  es- 
pecial interest  in  the  navy  and  in  the  fisheries.  They  may  be  justly 
called  the  originators  of  the  one  and  the  defenders  of  the  other. 
Space  fails  us  to  detail  the  other  great  services  rendered  l)y  John 
Adams, — how  effectively  he  represented  Congress  in  Europe;  what 
sagacity  he  displayed  in  forniing  the  model  of  a  (\)nstitution  which 


24 

was  adopted  by  his  own  State, — yes,  and  other  States,  and  which 
influenced  the  form  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  He 
lent  essential  assistance  to  the  negotiations  for  peace,  was  later 
chosen  Vice-President,  and  at  last,  consummation  of  all,  elected 
President.  Well  does  he  deserve  the  title  "  Glorious  Old  John 
Adams!" 

The  Vassall  house  became  the  residence  of  John  Adams  when 
finally  he  was  permitted  to  return  to  private  life.  He  lived  in  it 
during  the  remainder  of  his  days.  This  house  had  been  the  summer 
residence  of  Leonard  Vassall,  a  West  India  Planter  and  a  violent 
king-and-church  Tory.  He  fled  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution, 
and  his  estate  was  afterwards  secjuestrated.  The  house  was  built 
in  1731,  and  contains  one  room  panelled  from  floor  to  ceiling  in  solid 
St.  Domingo  mahogany.  John  Adams  bought  the  estate  in  1785. 
Here,  through  uneventful  years,  the  ex-President  and  his  wife  were 
revered  by  their  townspeople,  called  upon  by  adoring  Americans, 
and  visited  by  eminent  foreigners,  not  the  least  among  whom  was 
Lafayette.  Here,  too,  marvellous  to  relate,  was  celebrated  their 
golden  wedding,  that  of  their  son  John  Quincy  Adams,  and  that  of 
their  grandson  Charles  Francis  Adams.  The  old  President  seems 
never  to  have  had  any  declining  years.  Robust  and  active,  he  con- 
tinued to  rise  as  early  as  four  or  five  o'clock,  often  buikling  his  own 
fire.  When  the  weather  permitted,  he  walked  up  "  President's  Lane" 
to  the  top  of  "President's  Hill,"  every  morning,  to  see  the  sun  rise 
and  every  evening  to  see  the  sun  set. 

Memorable  was  the  celebration  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  Quincy  had  made  great  prepara- 
tions for  a  joyous  festival.  John  Adams  was  requested  to  grace  the 
occasion  by  his  presence.  This  the  venerable  patriot  was  not  able 
to  tlo,  but  he  sent  a  dictated  letter  to  Captain  John  Whitney,  the 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  and  proposed  a  toast: 
"I  give  you  Independence  Forever!"  The  4th  of  July,  1826, 
dawned  brightly,  and  was  hailed  with  the  ringing  of  bells  and  the 
firing  of  cannon.  It  was  celebrated,  writes  Charles  F.  Adams,  the 
younger,  "as  its  sturdiest  supporter  had  fifty  years  before  predicted 
it  would  be,  as  'a  day  of  deliverance,  with  pomp  and  parade,  with 


G 

5 


o 


c 
?a 


26 

shows,  games,  sports,  guns,  bells,  bonfires,  and  illuminations.'  On 
that  fair  glad  day — in  the  midst  of  peace  and  prosperity  and  politi- 
cal good  feeling,  with  the  sound  of  joyous  bells  and  booming  guns 
ringing  in  his  ears,  with  his  own  toast  of  'Independence  Forever' 
still  lingering  on  the  lips  of  his  townsmen — the  spirit  of  the  old  patriot 
passed  away.  His  last  words  were,  'Thomas  Jefferson  still  sur- 
vives.' But  Jefferson,  too,  had  passed  away  a  few  hours  earlier  on 
that  memorable  Independence  Day." 

"His  beloved  and  only  wife,"  Abigail,  had  died  some  eight  years 
previously,  on  the  28th  of  October,  1818.  A  few  years  before  his 
death,  John  Adams,  moved,  as  he  expressed  it,  "by  the  veneration 
he  felt  for  the  residence  of  his  ancestors  and  the  place  of  his  nativity, 
and  the  habitual  affection  he  bore  to  the  inhabitants  with  whom  he 
had  so  happily  lived  for  more  than  eighty-six  years,"  gave  to  the 
town  a  large  tract  of  quarry  lands  to  assist  in  building  a  new  church 
edifice.  Later  he  gave  other  lands  for  the  establishment  of  an  acad- 
emy, and  all  of  his  private  library,  some  3,000  volumes,  to  further 
the  ends  of  such  an  institution. 

|HE  Stone  Temple  was  dedicated  Nov.  U,  18^28.  Into 
the  solid  foiuidation  of  its  front  wall,  and  immedi- 
ately under  the  noble  portico,  two  granite  chambers 
had  been  built.  One  received  all  that  was  mortal 
of  President  John  'Adams,  and  "At  his  side  Sleeps 
till  the  Trump  shall  Sound,  Abigail,  his  Beloved 
and  only  Wife."  Later  the  remains  of  their  illustrious  son, 
John  Quincy  Adams,  were  entombed  in  the  second  chamber,  to- 
gether with  those  of  "His  Partner  for  fifty  Years,  Louisa  Catherine." 
Sacred  as  a  house  of  Christian  worship  is  this  Temple;  sacrosanct 
because  of  the  dust  it  treasures,  and  because  of  its  association  with 
the  generations  of  noble  men  and  women  who  have  worshipped 
beneath  its  wide  and  stately  dome. 

John  Quincy  Adams,  whenever  he  was  in  his  native  town,  was 
always  to  be  found  of  a  Sunday  in  the  "President's  pew."  As  re- 
ligiously was  it  later  occupied  by  his  son,  our  great  minister  to  Eng- 
land during  the  Civil  War,  Charles  Francis  Adams,  and  his  family. 


27 


Here,  also,  were 
to  be  seen,  in  .-m 
ad  j  oi  11  i  11  ii;  pew, 
Josiah  QuiiKv, 
President  of  Har- 
vard, and  liis  fam- 
ily. Other  names 
— Iww  dear  to  pres- 
ent  worshi])pers! 
—  arise  in  tlie 
memory  as  past 
days  are  dwelt 
upon. 

Two  tal)lets,()iie 
on  either  side  of 
the  imposing  ma- 


FIKbr   CHLKCH    FK(J.M    ULD   BURYING-GROUND 
Hoar  tombstones  at  left 


INTERIOR   OF   FIRST  CHURCH,   "STONE  TEMPLE" 


hogany  pulpit, hon- 
or the  Presitlents 
and  their  wives. 
Other  tablets  to 
the  memory  of 
|)ast  ministers  give 
a  distinctive  char- 
acter to  the  spa- 
cious interior. 
This  effect  will  be 
heightened  when 
I  h  ('  p  r  e  s  e  n  t 
Charles  F.  Adams 
sliall  have  fulfilled 
his  intention  of 
})lacing  on  the 
walls  two  other 
tablets, — one  to 
the  memory  of 
Rev.  Henry  Flynt 


28 


and  the  other  to  the    memory  of  Colonel  John  Quincy.     Our  West- 
minster Abbey  then,  surely ! 

The  stream  of  pilgrims  who  pass  its  portals,  yearly  increases. 
The  way  to  the  tombs  under  the  portico  has  been  made  convenient, 
and  a  door  of  open  iron -work  has  been  hung,  through  which  the 
massive  sarcophagi  can  be  easily  seen.  Whatever  will  enable  vis- 
itors to  view  the  monuments  in  the  church,  and  to  steep  themselves 
for  a  satisfying  space  amid  the  great  associations  of  the  edifice,  has 
been  arranged  by  the  officials  of  the  society.  The  pastor  is  the 
Rev.  EUery  Channing  Butler. 


\\(  K  IDWAKI)  INSTITUTE 

THE  Adams  iVcademy  was  built  in  187"2,  upon  the  site  chosen 
by  John  Adams, — the  Hancock  Lot,  on  which  had  stood  the 
house  in  which  John  Hancock  had  been  born.  Another  edu- 
cational endowment  was  stimulated  by  the  gift  of  John  Adams. 
The  Aflams  Academy  is  exclusively  for  boys.  Dr.  Elienezer  Wood- 
ward, long  a  respected  physician  of  the  town,  determined  there  should 
be  as  fine  a  school  for  the  higher  education  of  girls.  So  in  his  will 
he  bequeathed  a  large  portion  of  his  estate  to  this  end,  advising 
that  his  Institute  should  be  built  on  that  ])art  of  his  land  opposite 
the  Hancock  Lot.     There  they  stand   to-day, — near,  if  not  opposite. 


29 

— each  emulating  the  other  in  affording  to  Quincy  youth  uiiiisuiil 
faeiUties  for  an  exeeUent  education.  Yet  another  fine  school,  in  this 
instance  a  private  on(>.  lias  been  added  in  these  later  years  to  our 
numerous  educational  estahlishments.  This  is  the  "Quincy  Man- 
sion School"  for  girls.  Mr.  Horace  Mann  Willard,  the  [)riii(i|)al. 
has  transformed  the  latest  n^sidence  of  the  Quincys  at  WoUaston, 
has  huilt  two  fine  Iialis,  the  "  ^^anc]lester"  and  the  "Canterbury," 


QllNCV   MANSION   SCHOOL 


and  so  created,  in   one  of   the    most    beautiful   and    historic  parts  of 
the  city,  a  refined  and  entirely  modern  boarding-school. 

The  public  .schools  of  Quincy  have  long  been  famous  far  and 
wide.  Indeed,  some  go  so  far  as  to  utter  the  heresy  that  the  city's 
distinction  as  the  birth])lace  of  Presidents  and  the  source  of  one 
of  the  finest  granites  is  distanced  by  the  ])raise  of  her  schools.  Here 
began  that  awakening  to  the  real  teaching  of  real  things  which  came 


30 


to  be  known  as  "The  Qnincv  System."  Colonel  F.  S.  Parker,  with 
his  new  ideas,  "made  in  Germany,"  was  appointed  superintendent 
of  schools,  and  given  a  free  hand.  On  the  school  board  were  John 
Quincy  Adams,  the  present  Charles  Francis  Adams,  James  H.  Slade, 
and  other  public-spirited  and  energetic  citizens;  and  in  them  the 
•colonel  found  sympathetic  coadjutors.  The  results  were  both  surpris- 
ing and  inspiring.  Visi- 
tors from  every  State  in 
the  Union  s  w  a  r  m  e  d 
througli  the  buildings  to 
see  this  new  thing  in 
public  education.  The 
best  in  that  ferment  has 
been  conserved  and  ap- 
plied. It  suffers  no  dim- 
inution under  the  admin- 
istrative ability  of  Mr. 
Frank  F.  Parlin,  the 
present  excellent  superintendent.  The  outlay  for  equipment  has 
been  liberal  and  intelligently  disbursed.  The  latest  building,  the 
Washington,  is  the  creation  of  a  young  Quincy  architect,  Albert 
H.  Wright.  It  is  a  fine  example  of  what  the  city  has  been 
furnishing  in  this  line  for  the  accommodation  of  its  raj)idly  nuilti- 
plying  school  population. 


WASmNGTON  SCHOOL 


OHN  QUINCY  ADAMS  ranks  high  among  the  great- 
est characters  in  history.  He  is  interesting  in  an  ab- 
sorbing degree,  in  spite  of  what  appears  to  be  his 
aloofness.  What  an  embodiment  he  was  of  aggressive 
righteousness,  of  patriotic  statecraft!  His  conscien- 
tiousness seemed  too  fine  for  daily  use,  his  exalted  reli- 
ance upon  clearest  principles  too  quixotic.  For  these 
qualities  we  call  him  the  Puritan  President.  Much  of  his  life  was 
spent  abroad  and  in  intimate  relations  with  the  courts  of  Europe; 
but  Puritan  he  was  born,  and  Puritan  he  remained,  in  veracity,  hon- 


c 


o 

c 


r. 

> 

H 

S 

w 

5 


32 

esty,   clear  manliness,   and    in   devotion   to  an    ideal  America   God 
Almighty  would  take  interest  in. 

His  happy  boyhood  was  spent  in  Quincy.  After  that  his  oppor- 
tunities to  enjoy  the  home  and  the  scenes  he  loved  so  well  were  few 
and  far  between.  At  ten  he  went  with  his  father  to  France.  At 
fourteen  he  was  the  private  secretary  of  Francis  Dana  at  the  court 
of  Russia.  Again,  in  France,  he  served  Jefferson  and  Franklin 
as  secretary.  He  might  have  gone  thence  to  London,  when  his 
father  was  appointed  minister  to  the  English  court;    but  he  broke 


ipP^PPpt^ 


HAKRY  L.  RICE 


away  from  this  fascinating  life  because  he  was  an  ardent  American. 
He  went  to  Harvard,  and  a  little  after  graduating  he  was  sent  as 
minister  to  The  Hague.  While  on  official  business  in  London,  he  met 
Louisa  Catherine  Johnson,  daughter  of  Joshua  Johnson,  the  Ameri- 
can consul,  whom  he  married  in  1797.  Ileturning  once  more  to  his 
native  land,  he  was  elected  to  the  Massachusetts  Senate,  and  then 
to  the  National  Senate;  and  this  is  the  measure  of  his  strides  to  the 
])osition  of  JNlinister  Plenipotentiary  to  Englaiid,  to  th&t  of  Secretary 
of  State,  and  eventually  to  that  of  the  Presidency. 


33 

The  "old  man  oloqiuMit"  is  the  title  with  wliieli  Presith-iit  J.  (^. 
Adams  was  erowned  toward  the  end  of  his  days  in  sheer  admiration 
of  his  abilities.  Marvellous  was  that  career  of  his  in  Con<;ress  after 
he  had  served  as  President.  Through  years  of  conflict,  one  against 
a  hundred,  lie  vindicated  the  right  of  Americans  to  petition  the 
House  they  themselves  created.  "  Since  parties  were  first  organized  in 
this   Hepuhlic.  no  statesman  has  ever  approached  him  in   persistent 


TAI'.I.KT  TO    I'RESmENT  -lOHX  QUIXCY  ADAMS 


freedom  of  thought,  speech,  and  action."  He  died  in  harness. 
On  the  ^Ist  of  February,  1818,  as  he  rose  to  address  the  Speaker  of 
the  House,  he  fell  unconscious.  A  few  hours  afterward,  coming 
to  himself  for  a  moment,  he  saiil  distinctly:  "This  is  the  last  of 
earth.  I  am  content."  Oti  the  evening  of  the  "-^Sd  he  was  at  rest. 
The  funeral  services,  imjjosing  in  their  character,  were  held  in  Stone 
Tem])le. 


o 
o 
a: 

IS 


35 

IIARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS,  the  tliiicl  son  of  Tivsi- 
(Icnt  J.  (^.  Adams,  continued  the  great  traditions  of 
the  family.  In  him  Avas  the  same  moral  jjersistence, 
sa<!:acitv,  industrv.  and  devotion  to  the  hiirhest  Amer- 
ican ideals.  As  Minister  to  England  during  the 
(ivil   ^Var.    how   great  were   his 


services !      "  None    of 
our  generals   in   the   field,"   said   James   Russell   Low- 
ell,  "not   Grant   himself,  did   us  better  or  more  trving  .service  than 


''--M'^"^^^ 


OLD  TIME  BACK  PIAZZA.— T.  B.  ADAMS'  HOLSE,  1640 


he  in  his  forlorn  out|)ost  of  London.""  There  his  high  character, 
his  knowledge  of  international  law,  his  imperturbability,  kept  England 
from  permitting  the  Confederate  iron-clads,  built  in  heryards,  to  assail 
our  shores.  "For  us,"  said  Washington  naval  authorities,  it  was  "a 
matter  of  life  and  death  to  defeat  this  invasion."  lie  was  born  in  Ros- 
ton,  Aug.  18,  1807,  where  his  father  was  tenij)orarily   residing.      When 


■J 

o 

< 


X 

o 

Pi 
o 
c 


37 

hardly  two  years  old.  lie  was  taken  to  Russia  with  his  parents.  Re- 
turiiinij:  to  America  in  1817,  he  was  placed  under  the  care  of  his 
•rrand mother,  Ahijjail  Adams,  in  Quincy.  He  graduated  at  Har- 
vard, and  studied  law  under  Webster.  In  18^29  he  married  Ahi- 
lijail  IJ.  Brooks,  the  younjjest  child  of  Peter  C.  Brooks,  a  noted  Boston 
merchant.  That  dij)lomatic  skill  of  his,  which  was  of  the  hiirhest 
order,  and  that  patriotic  spirit  "unsurpassed  hy  that  of  his  fathers," 
were  sifrnally  displayed  once  more  when  called  upon  to  serve  as  arbi- 
trator on  the  part  of  the  United  States  in  the  Geneva  Tribunal, 
summoned  to  adjust  the  "Alabama  Claims."  ^Euch  of  his  later 
life  was  spent  in  Quincy.  While  deeply  engaged  in  literary  labors, 
he,  nevertheless,  found  time  to  interest  himself  in  the  higher  wel- 
fare of  the  town,  in  which  service  Mrs.  Adams  also  endeared  herself 
by  her  sympathy  and  unfailing  tact.  Mr.  Adams  was  gathered  to 
his  fathers  Nov.  '■21,  1886;  and  Mrs.  Adams  followed  him  June 
6,  1889.  Their  remains  were  interred  in  Mount  Wollaston  Ceme- 
tery. The  six  cliildreii  of  Charles  F.  Adams  who  lived  to  man- 
hood or  womanhood  lia\e  all  distinguished  themselves  in  social  and 
national  life.  Not  unknown  to  fame  are  John  Quincy,  Charles 
Francis,  Henry,  and  Brooks.  Affectionately  is  the  memory  of  the 
late  John  Quincy  Adams  cherished  in  this  city.  Year  after  year, 
under  the  town  form  of  government,  he  was  unanimously  chosen 
moderator.  With  him  for  leader — tactful,  wise,  swift  in  decision, 
witty,  and  resourcefid — the  town  meetings  were  an  unexcelled  dis- 
play of  democracy  in  action. 


OHX  HANCOCK,— another  man  ".sent  from  God, 
whose  name  was  John"!  The  city  came  near  being 
named  after  him.  He  was  at  the  height  of  his  fame 
when  the  North  Precinct  of  Braintree  was  set  off  in 
17!)'2:  and,  as  first  Governor  under  the  Constitution, 
ffM/  he  sign^'d  the  act  incorporating  the  new  town.  Born 
^-H  here  on  the  l'2th  of  January,  1737,  he  also  wedded 
the  loveK  Dorothy  Quincy,  who  was  bred  in  the  old  Quincy  Home- 
stead.    His  name  graces  every  patriotic  address  uttered  in  the  hear- 


QLIN'CY  HOMESTEAD 


UIXINGKOO.M.  QVINCY  HOMESTEAD 


39 

ins;  of  our  ritizens.      We  have  a   Ilaiicock  Scliool,  a  Hancock  Street, 
a  Hancock  House,  and  we  did  have  a  Hancock  Light  Guard. 

The  house  in  which  Hancock  was  l)orn  was  destroyed  by  fire  in 
May  of  1759,  fate  orthiining  what  Lowell  thought  sliovdd  befall ' 
every  house, — "When  the  first  occu])ants  go  out,  it  should  he  l)urncd, 
and  a  stone  set  up  with  'Sacred  to  the  Memory  of  a  House"  on  it.  ' 
The  tablet  is  there  on  the  Hancock  lot  in  memory  of  the  home  of 
the  patriot,  but  his  ])eo])le  were  not  the  last  occupants  of  the  dwell- 
ing. Josiah  Quincy  (1710— S4),  having  prospered  by  the  fortu- 
nate caj)ture  of  a  Spanish  ship,  retired  from  Boston  to  Quincy, 
and  took  up  his  residence  in  the  Hancock  parsonage.  His  daughter 
was  the  adorable  Hannah  to  whom  John  Adams  all  but  proposed; 
and  one  of  his  sons  was  the  fervent  patriot,  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.  These 
were  the  last  occupants  of  the  house.  Meditating  upon  the  catas- 
tro|)he,  John  Adams  wrote  in  his  diary:  "It  is  not  at  all  surprising 
that  the  Colonel  is  more  dejected  than  his  brother  [Edmund  over 
in  the  old  Mansion,  who  lost  all  his  property  in  an  unlucky  venture]. 
For  his  brother's  dejection  was  more  complete,  yet  the  Colonel's 
was  less  expected.  Ned  was, reduced  to  worse  than  nothing.  Josiah 
has  a  competency  left.  .  .  .  Edmund  lost  a  son  [Abraham  by  drown- 
ing off  Germantown]  as  suddenly  as  the  Colonel  lost  his  house." 

Early  Hancock  threw  his  wealth,  his  sacred  honor,  and  his  life 
into  the  scale  with  the  patriots.  He  was  appointed  one  of  the  dele- 
gates to  the  Continental  Congress  at  Philadelphia,  and  entered  it 
a  proscribed  i-ebel.  General  Gage  offered  jjardon  to  all,  except 
Sam  Adams  and  John  Hancock,  "whose  offences  are  of  too  flagitious 
a  nature  to  admit  of  any  other  consideration  than  that  of  condign 
punishment."  It  was  a  son  of  old  Braintree,  thus  singled  out,  whom 
Congress  honored  by  election  to  its  Presidency.  As  Benjamin  Har- 
rison conducted  him  to  the  chair,  he  remarked,  "We  will  show 
(xreat  Britain  how  much  we  value  her  proscriptions."  Hancock's 
name  was  the  only  one  signed  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
on  July  4.  the  great  day  on  which  it  was  accepted.  He  signed  it 
in  Ills  hold  cliar.Htci'istic  liaiidwriting,  exclaiming,  as  he  did  so: 
"There,  John  Bull  c;ui  read  that  withoiit  spectacles.  Now  let  him 
double  his  reward." 


40 


The  Hancocks  retained  to  the  end  their  interest  in  Quincy,  or, 
US  it  was  then,  Braintree.  They  returned  now  and  again  to  its 
familiar  haunts.  A  visit  made  in  1787  had  a  sorrowful  ending. 
Their  only  son,  John  George  Washington  Hancock,  nine  years  old, 
met  with  an  accident  while  skating.  He  did  not  recover  from  its 
effects,  and  passed  away,  it  is  surmised,  in  the  newer  mansion  of  the 
Quincys,  that  built  by  Josiah  Quincy  in  1770. 


conniNUTuN's  kitchen.  (juiNrv  hi_i.mk>i  i:  \ii 

^HE  Quincy  JNIansions  are  three  in  number.  The 
most  ancient  is  the  Quincy  Homestead,  which  is  still 
standing.  The  story  of  it  carries  us  back,  without 
a  break  in  historic  continuity,  to  Edmund,  "the 
immigrant,"  and  to  the  first  settlers  on  the  shores  of 
Massachusetts  Bay.  From  those  early  days  till  now 
the  finest  elements  in  American  life  —  its  simplicity,  its  genuine- 
ness, its  jjatriotism,  its  intellectual  vigor,  its  moral  daring — have 
been  illustrated  in  the  occupants  of  that  home  and  in  those  of  the 
other  mansions  of  the  Quincys.  Edmund,  "the  immigrant,"  was 
about    thirty-one    years    okl    when     he     arrived    in    Boston,    Sept. 


41 

4,  1633.  AVitli  liim  ciiiiio  his  wife  Juditli,  and  their  two  eliil<h-eii. 
Judith  and  Ivhiiiiiid.  In  \iV.]o  tliere  was  granted  to  Edmund  Quincy 
and  AViiiiani  Coddington  a  large  tract  of  land  at  Mount  WoUas- 
ton,  as  the  region  now  included  in  the  city  of  Quincy  was  first  called. 
Coddington,  who  was  treasurer  of  the  Colony,  at  once  built  him 
a  farm-house  on  the  grant.  This  is  still  standing,^the  most  ancient 
structure,  perhaps,  in  New  England.  Coddington  never  trans- 
ferred his  residence  wholly  to  the  "Mount."  His  visits  were  fre- 
quent, however;  and  a  chamber  in  the  house  was  especially  reserved 
for  him. 

Love  of  liberty  drew  Coddington  to  the  "Mount"  as  much  as 
love  of  husbandry.  It  was  the  time  of  the  "Antinomian  Contro- 
versy," the  earliest  outbreak  for  freedom  of  thought  which  occurred 
in  New  England;  and  a  community  of  ardent  liberals  seemed  rap- 
idly concentrating  in  this  place.  Here  at  Coddington's  farm-house 
were  gatherings  of  some  of  the  brightest  spirits  of  the  times, — Sir 
Harry  Vane,  Aim  Hutchinson,  William  Hutchinson,  the  Rev.  John 
Wheelwright,  Edmund  Quincy,  and  many  another.  Upon  their 
j)etition  it  was  granted  them,  in  KiSO,  to  gather  a  church  at  the 
"^Nlount,"  and  to  have  Wheelwright  for  minister.  At  first,  it  would 
seem  likely,  the  worshippers  met  in  Coddington's  house,  and  then 
in  1637  a  meeting-house  was  built.  This  is  virtually  the  begin- 
ning of  the  old  First  Church  of  Quincy.  To  be  sure,  it  was  soon 
broken  up;  but  some  of  the  people  remained,  and  the  liberal  tra- 
ditions remained,  and  both  entered  into  the  permanent  organiza- 
tion of  First  Church,  which  occurred  Sept.  16,  1639.  The  "lega- 
lists," alarmed  at  llic  progress  of  the  liberals,  rallied  in  Boston, 
and  drove  them  from  the  field.  This  was  done  with  a  rough  hand. 
Wheelwright  was  judged  to  be  "like  Koger  Williams,  or  worse,  ' 
and  banished;  Ann  Hutchinson  was  banished;  Coddington  fled  for 
freedom  to  Khode  Island,  where  he  became  the  first  Governor;  and 
Vane  sorrowfully  withdrew  to  England.  Edmund  Quincy  had 
died  a  year  or  so  before.  Had  he  lived,  he  would  have  shared  the 
fate  of  his  friends. 


LATER   QUINCY   MANSION 
Sketch  by  Miss  Quincy,  1822 


KIiWAIM)  H.  ANIiIEK 


43 

JT'DTTII  QT'TXCY,  tlie  widow  of  Edmund,  married  Moses 
I'aine.  After  his  death,  in  1643,  she  entered  into  the  <)ccu])aney 
of  the  Coddiii^i'ton  farm-house.  Later  lier  son  Edmund,  wlio 
married  .loaiiiia  Hoar  in  1048,  came  into  full  possession  of  the 
homestead.  By  Joanna  he  had  eleven  children,  and  by  the  widow 
Eliot  three  more.  These  intermarried  with  the  Savils,  Ilobarts, 
Savages,  Gookins,  Hunts,  Bakers;  and  Daniel  married  Hannah 
She|)ard,  who  bore  Colonel  John  Quincy,  from  whom  the  city  is 
named,  and  Edmund  married  Dorothy  Flynt,  the  mother  of  all  the 
Dorothys.  As  need  was.  Colonel  Edmund  built  him  a  new  house 
in  1685.  Jud<re  Sewall,  under  date  of  March  '■2'-2,  168o-(),  enters 
in  his  diarv,  "Lodijed  in  the  lower  room  of  Unkle  Quinsv's  new 
hou.se. "'  This  was  the  structure  which,  up  to  about  ten  years  ago,  stood 
a  little  to  the  .south  of  the  homestead,  and  was  called  the  farm-house. 


CHKIST  CHI  KLH 


^^33 HE    Quincy   Homestead,  as  we  now  see   it,  was   built 

^'^  during  the  life  of  the  third  Edmund  (^uincv.  The 
r^^-N-if  'lilt*'  of  it''  erection  is  thus  set  down  bv  John  Marshall 
v'ri*"?i5J(  in  his  diary,  "June  14,  1706,  we  raised  Mr.  Quincy's 
1*7-^']^;-  A^  house."  The  old  house  which  Coddington  built  was 
incor])()rated  with  this  new  structure.  It  was  an 
achievement  for  the  carpenters  of  those  days,  done  by  plain  rule  of 
thumb;  and  thus  ample  spaces  are  provided  for  "secret  chambers," 
numerous  closets  of  oddest  shapes,  curious  shiplike  lockers,  and  for 
similar  entrancing  conveniences. 


a 
z 

D 
«5 
Q 
a 

a 
O 
Q 


o 
Q 


45 

AN  cvfiit  of  till"  (iist  importance  soon  distinguished  the  new 
mansion.  "Dorothy  Q.,"  "my  Dorotliy,"  as  Dr.  OHver 
Weiuk'H  llohnes  calls  her,  was  born  in  it.  Jan.  K  1709. 
She  was  the  t'onrlh  child.  She  grew  to  beautit'nl  womanhood,  was 
"well  spoken  of  i>v  evcrxhody,"  and  on  the  Ttli  of  Decemher, 
17.')S,  married  Kilward  Jackson,  Esq.,  of  Boston.  'I'hcir  daughter 
INlarv  married  Judge  Oliver  Wendell  in  17()'-2,  to  whom  was  horn 
Sarah,  who  man-ii'd  the  Ilev.  Ahiel  Holmes,  the  father  of  the  ])oet. 
Along  this  line  came  down  the  portrait  of  Dorothy,  made  famous 
by  Holmes's  j)oem. 

The  storv  of  the  ])ainting  is  told  by  Dr.  Holmes,  as  follows: — 
"'I'he  i)ainting  hung  in  the  house  of  my  grandfather,  Oliver  Wen- 
dell, which  was  occupied  by  British  officers  before  the  evacuation 
of  Boston.  One  of  these  gentlemen  amused  himself  by  stabbing 
poor  Dorothy  (the  pictured  one)  as  near  the  right  eye  as  his  swords- 
manship would  serve  him  to  do  it.  The  canvas  was  so  decayed  that 
it  became  necessary  to  remount  the  painting,  in  the  j)rocess  of  doing 
which  the  hole  made  by  the  rapier  was  lost  sight  of.  I  took  some 
photographs  of  the  picture  before  it  was  transfcrri-d  to  the  new 
camas." 

'■  (Trainiinothor's  iiiottier:   tier  age,  I  guess, 
Tliirtecii  siiiiuner.s,  or  sometliing  less; 
Girlisii  l)iist,  but  womanly  air; 
Smootli,  s(|\iaiv  I'orehead  willi  uprnlk'd  hair: 
Lips  that  lovt-r  has  never  tcissed: 
Tapt'r  fingers  and  slender  wrist; 
Hanging  sieexcs  of  still'  Kroiade; 
So  thev  painlfd  the  little  maid. 

"()n  liei'  liaTid  a  pai-rol  green 
Sit>  iinnidviiig  and  broods  serene. 
Hold  up  the  canvas  full  in  view, — 
jyookl    there's  a  ri'Ut  the  liirht  shines  throuirh, 
!)ai'k  \\  llh  .-I  <cnlurv's  fringe  of  dust, — 
'IMial  was  a  IJed-eoat's  rapier-thrust! 
Such  is  the  tale  the  lady  old, 
Dorotiiv's  dauijiiter's  daughter,  told. 


46 

Judge  Quincy,  the  father  of  Dorothy,  was  a  distinguished  man 
in  his  day,  and  passed  almost  his  whole  life  in  the  public  service. 
His  domestic  establishment  was  ample,  and  his  hospitality  unlim- 
ited. For  his  wife's  brother,  Tutor  Flynt,  he  built  the  two-story 
L  on  the  north  side  of  the  homestead.  The  tutor  was  a  bachelor, — 
scholarly,  original,  and  witty, — but  at  times  he  fell  into  "a  hypochon- 
drial  disorder";  and  on  the  floor  of  his  study  tradition  points  out  a 
depression  worn  by  him  as  he  walked  forward  and  back  in  black, 
restless  mood.  The  judge  passed  away  in  London,  where  he  went 
to  defend  before  the  king  the  cause  of  ^Massachusetts  in  the  boundary 
dispute  between  that  colony  and  New  Hampshire.  His  two  sons, 
Edmuiid  and  Josiah,  had  removed  to  Boston;  but  both  eventually 
returned  to  the  place  of  their  birth.  Josiah,  the  younger,  who  mar- 
ried Hannah  Sturgis,  took  up  his  residence  in  the  Hancock  parson- 
age; and    Edmund  entered   into  possession  of  the  homestead. 

HIS  Edmund  Quincy,  the  fourth,  was  the  father  of 
the  "Dorothy  Q."  who  married  John  Hancock.  The 
homestead,  from  the  time  of  the  first  "Colonel,"" 
was  full  of  life,  but  now  it  rose  to  flood-tide, 
Edmund  had  five  daughters,  all  "  remarkable  for  their 
beauty."'  Around  them  fluttered  the  beaux  in  multi- 
tudes. Eventually,  Samuel  Sewall  won  Elizabeth;  General  William 
Greenleaf,  Sarah;  Judge  Jonathan  Sewall,  Esther;  and  John  Han- 
cock, Dorothy.  Across  the  way,  in  the  Hancock  parsonage,  lived 
Josiah  Quincy,  whose  children  were :  Samuel,  who  rose  to  be  solici- 
tor-jreneral ;  Josiah.  Jr.,  who  gained  the  title  of  "the  Patriot"; 
and  Hannah,  to  whom  John  Adams  was  about  to  propose  when  he 
retreated,  to  the  delight  of  Dr.  Bela  Lincoln.  Near  by,  at  Mount 
Wollaston,  was  the  home  of  Colonel  John  Quincy.  His  grand- 
daughter, Aliigail  Smith,  who  became  the  wife  of  John  Adams, 
was  a  fre((uent  member  of  his  household.  Thiiis  we  have  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  circles  of  youth  and  beauty,  culture  and  ambi- 
tion and  patriotism,  which  at  that  time  might  be  gathered  in  New 
England.  Lively  is  the  account  John  Adams  gives  us  of  it.  and  it. 
centred  in  the  Quincy  Homestead. 


47 

DOROTHY  was  [\w  youngest  of  Edmund's  children.  When 
it  was  that  Hanei)ck  won  her  consent  to  marriage,  we  have 
no  means  of  knowing.  Tradition  says  his  troth  was  pliglited 
while  she  was  still  living  in  the  homestead.  The  large  north  parlor  was 
adorned  with  a  new  wall  paj^er  express  from  Paris,  and  appropri- 
ately figured  with  the  forms  of  Venus  and  Cupid  in  Ijlue  and  pend- 
ant wreaths  of  flowers  in  red.  Does  any  one  doubt  the  tradition  f 
There  on  the  wall  hangs  the  paper  to  this  day,  unfading  in  its  an- 
ti(|uity  and  nuitely  confounding  the  incredulous. 

Before  the  happy  day  arrived,  however,  the  family  was  dis})ersed 
by  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution.  Dorothy  found  refuge 
first  in  I^exington,  and  finally  at  the  home 
of  Thaddeus  Burr,  in  Fairfield,  Conn. 
Here,  on  Aug.  28,  177o,  John  Hancock 
and  Dorothy  Quincy  were  united  in  mar- 
riage. 

After  the   Revolution   the  ancient  home 

of  the   Quincys   passed    into  other  hands. 

It   was    mortgaged    to    Edward    Jackson. 

Then    it     was    bought    by    Moses     Black, 

ne.xt  by  Elizabeth  Greenleaf,  and,  finally, 

it  came  into  the  possession  of  Dr.  Ebenezer 

Woodward.       By    him  it  was  bequeathed         last  chu-d  born  in  thk 

,  p  A    •  p        1  p  H()-Mestp:.\1) 

to  the  town  of  Qumcy  tor  the  suj^port  of 

the  Woodward   Institute  for  Girls.     It  was  during   the   forty  years 

or  more   the    town   authorities  held  the  estate   in    trust  that   it  was 

occupied  by  tlie  Hon.  Peter  Butler.     Filled  once  more  was  tin-  lionie- 

-stead  with  life  and   in   its  appointments  fitted  out  in   harmony  with 

its   best   traditions.      In    memory  of   Mr.  and  Mrs.  Butler,  their  son 

Sigourney  and  a  daughter,   the  room,  reserved  by   Coddington   for 

his  especial  accommodation,  is  set  apart  and  furnished  appropriately. 

Later  the  estate  was  acquired  by  the  Adams  Trust  Company,  from 

whom   the   mansion   and   al)oul    two   acres   of  land   were   purchased 

by  the  Rev.   Daniel   M.   Wilson,   minister  of  the  old  First    Church, 

who  lived  in   it  till    he    was   called    to    Brooklyn,    N.Y.      Recently 

tile    Metropolitan    Park  Commission,    aided    by   the  Massachusetts 


WILLIAM  R   BATEMAN 


DK.  NAIIIANIKL  S.  HrXlINCi 


49 

Society  of  Colonial  Daiucs,  hoiigiit  the  Homestead  and  added  it  to  the 
Furnace  Brook  Parkway.  The  Commissioners  then  leased  it  to  the 
Dames,  by  whom  it  has  been  most  sympathetically  and  intelli- 
ji;ently  restored  within  and  without.  Many  persons  have  con- 
tributed and  loaned  old-time  furniture  and  utensils,  pictures 
and  clothing,  so  that  entering  the  homestead  seems  like  step])ing 
into  another  age,  that  of  the  original  "  Colonial  Dames."  A  comp(>tent 
and  courteous  care-taker  has  been  put  in  charge,  and  the  homestead  is 
now  open  to  the  view  of  the  |)ublic. 

The  Quincv  ^Mansion  at  the  "lowci-  farm,"  now  Wollaston.  built  in 


PKOFU.K  (»K  SQUAW  KOCK 

1770,  stands  for  that  line  of  the  (^uincys  which  traces  its  descent, 
not  from  sire  to  son,  t)ut,  as  it  was  wittily  said,  from  'Siah  to  'Siah. 
With  it  the  reign  of  Josiahs  i)t'gan.  The  line  of  Edmunds  came 
to  an  end  with  the  father  of  Dorothy  Hancock.  None  of  his  three 
sons  had  a  male  h(Mi-.  His  younger  brother  Josiah  alone  was-left, 
lie  aiiil  his  children,  to  continue  the  name  of  Quincv.  Hut  in  this 
line  none  of  the  higher  (|ualities  of  the  race  were  found  wanting, 
tlic  Josiahs  in  their  .several  generations  upholding  the  honor  and 
ability  of  the  (^uiney  name  magnihcently.  His  son,  Josiah,  Jr., 
was  so  zealous    in    the    cause   of    his    country    that    he    was    barely 


A  QUAKRY   OF  THE  GKAMTE  RAILWAY  CO. 


A   Ql'AKRY  OF  TIIK  QIINC  V  (,il  A  UKIi:s  CO. 


51 

tliirtv-one  vears  of  a<^t'  when  \\v  wore  liiiiisclf  out.  To  his  son, 
aiiotlier  Josiah,  lie  left  a  slifjlit  be(|uest  with  this  prayer.  "May  the 
spirit  of  liberty  rest  upon   him!" 

THE  Josiah  ii|)on  whom  "tlie  Patriot"  l)reath(Ml  that  hrii'f  hut 
elo<|VU'ut  ])ra\('r  I'ose  to  he  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  the 
Quincys.  He  was  a  State  Senator;  a  member  of  ('onjjress, 
attainincj  the  leadership  of  tlie  Federal  party;  Mayor  of  Boston  for 
six  vears.  earnin<^  the  title  of  "Great  INIayor";  President  of  Harvard 
for  sixteen  years;  author  of  a  History  of  Boston,  of  the  Boston 
Athenjpum.  of  Harvard,  and  of  nuieh  besides.  He  was  boi-u  in 
Boston. — and  his  residetu-e  was  chiefly  there  and  in  Canibridire, — 
but  he  s])ent  his  summers  in  Quincy,  and  there  he  died  July  1,  1S64. 
Still  another  Josiah,  the  eldest  son  of  President  (Quincy,  fori>;ed  to 
the  front  in  j)ublic  life.  He,  too,  became  Mayor  of  Boston.  He  was 
distinfjuished  as  a  railroad  man,  and  for  his  interest  in  the  most  pro- 
ifre.ssive  ideas  of  the  time,  commercial,  social,  and  moral.  In  his 
later  years  he  lived  nltou'ether  in  (Quincy,  a  member  of  that  delif;htful 
household  whicii  included  his  three  unmarried  sisters,  Eliza  Susan, 
Abby  Phillips,  and  Sophia  M.  How  pleasant  are  the  reminiscences 
of  the  f^racions  hospitalities  of  that  home,  with  its  old-time  atmos])here 
and  its  anecdotes  of  the  ijjreat  men  of  the  past!  The  "happy  life" 
had  certaiidy  fallen  to  them.  They  declared,  unreservedly,  that 
they  had  lived  in  the  best  age  of  the  world,  among  the  best  people 
in  the  world,  and  in  some  of  the  best  places  in  the  world.  "Tranquil- 
la  "  Dr.  ChaTuiing  named  this  home  and  its  snrronndings. 

In  the  next  generation  Josiah  !'.  (Quincy,  a  son  of  the  Josiah  who 
was  distinguished  as  a  "railroad  man."  built  still  another  mansion. 
This  is  the  fine  building  which  has  been  transformed  into  the  "(Quincy 
INIansion  School"  for  girls.  Its  doors,  like  those  of  its  predecessors, 
stood  wide  open  to  men  of  talent,  to  the  leaders  in  thought  and 
reform,  to  all  eminent  for  thiMr  intelligence  and  pnblic  spirit.  Here 
was  boiii  and  bred  his  son  Josiah.  Mayor  of  Boston  from  lS!),j  to 
1S!)S.  The  Quincys  have  now  all  withdrawn  to  Boston  and  elsewhere. 
For  the  first  time  since  th(>  town  was  mimed  there  are  no  Quincys 
of (^uincv. 


52 

RAIXTREE  and  Quincv, — their  men  and  their  hills, — 
their  scions  and  their  syenite:  the  hrst  have  furnished 
some  of  the  ablest  hands  by  which  our  Revolution 
was  achieved;  the  last  has  supplied  the  materials  of 
the  proudest  monuments  by  which  it  will  be  com- 
memorated." Thus  Hon.  R.  C.  AVinthrop  toasted 
the  town  at  the  second  centennial  of  its  ancient  in- 
corporation. The  men  and  the  monuments!  Whenever  Quincy  is 
mentioned,  these  fill  the  imagination.  Our  First  Church  is  called 
the  "  Church  of  Statesmen";  our  community,  the  "  City  of  Presidents," 
often  the  " Granite  City."  Men  first:  let  that  be  emphasized!  Men, 
chiefly,  give  fame  and  value  to  town  or  city.  The  "  City  of  Presi- 
dents," that  is  our  unrivalled  title. 

THE  granite  industry  is,  nevertheless,  important.  As  early  as 
1749  this  granite  was  utilized,  but  at  that  date  only  surface 
boulders  were  broken  up  and  wrought  into  shape.  King's 
Chapel  in  Boston  was  built  of  this  material,  and  it  was  thought  to  be 
so  limited  in  (|uantity  that  the  town  became  alarmed,  and  by  vote  for- 
bade its  further  removal  until  otherwise  ordered.  Later,  however, 
enough  was  secured  to  construct  the  famous  old  Hancock  mansion 
on  Beacon  Hill. 

When  at  last,  in  1803,  it  was  discovered  that  by  the  use  of  wedges 
the  obdurate  material  might  be  split  into  almost  any  shape  and  size, 
"the  crust  of  the  hills  was  broken,"  and  Bunker  Hill  monument 
became  a  possibility. 

To  facilitate  the  transportation  of  the  hewn  blocks  for  the  Bunker 
Hill  monument,  a  railway  was  built,  the  first  in  the  country.  It  was 
laid  from  quarry  to  tide  water,  some  two  miles,  and  the  first  cars, 
drawn  by  horses,  ran  Oct.  7,  1826.  From  that  time  onward  the 
granite  business  rapidly  increased.  There  are  now  about  1-K)  firms 
engaged  in  it,  which  employ  in  the  neighborhood  of  '-2,000  men. 
The  quarries  worked  number  about  -25,  the  j)lants  in  which  cut- 
ting and  polishing  are  done  about  40,  and  those  in  which  polish- 
ing alone  is  done  about  10.  Not  far  from  a  million  dollars  are 
investe<l  in  the  entire  industry. 


> 


K 

O 
W 

B 


50 

£ 

w 

r 

o 


54 

HIPBUILDING  and  shipping  are  natural  autl  pic- 
turesque enterprises  of  Quincy.  One  argument  used 
by  the  inhabitants  of  the  North  Precinct  of  Braintree, 
when  they  petitioned  to  be  set  off  in  a  town  by  them- 
selves, was  that  because  of  their  long  extent  of  sea- 
coast  their  character  and  habits  of  life  would  naturally 
take  a  maritime  cast.  In  the  j)ast  its  inhabitants  did 
go  down  to  the  great  deep.  Still,  "the  maritime  cast"  is  not  now 
obtrusively  conspicuous.  For  genuine  "old  salts"  we  resort  to  the 
"National  Sailors'  Home"  and  to  the  "Sailors'  Snug  Harbor". 


f    or:    ■■ 


It  was  in  1696  that  the  first  vessel  was  built  in  what  is  now  Quincy. 
In  1789,  the  old  "Massachusetts"  was  launched, — the  largest  vessel 
for  that  day, — eight  hundred  tons.  Another  vessel  of  note  was  the 
barque  Mt.  Wollaston,  built  for  Edward  Cruft  about  18^20.  John 
Adams  took  considerable  interest  in  her  construction,  anfl,  it  is  said 
that  her  timbers  were  hewn  on  land  he  owned. 


CUi-FEK  SHIP.  •■RED  CLUUD" 


BATTLK-SHIF    "KHOUE  ISLAND'    LEAVING  FOKE  RIVEK 


56 

Deacon  George  Thomas  built  most  of  these  craft.  He  came 
from  Rockhmd,  Me.,  in  1854,  and  in  that  year  built  his  first  ship, 
the  "King  Philip."  His  last  ship,  the  "Red  Cloud,"  was  launched 
in  1S77.  No  other  wooden  vessel  of  any  consequence  has  since  been 
built  in  Quincy. 

GREAT  as  were  the  activities  in  the  way  of  shipbuilding  in  the 
Quincy  of  the  past,  what  were  they  as  compared  with  those  of 
the  present!  We  are  hardly  over  our  first  astonishment  at 
the  rapid  rise  of  the  Fore  River  Shipbuilding  Company.  What  an 
astounding  fulfilment  is  this  of  the  prophecy  of  John  Adams,  that  our 
seaboard  would  some  day  be  the  scene  of  a  great  development  of 
maritime  industry!  The  company  is  now  engaged  in  "the  construc- 
tion of  its  one  hundredth  and  fortieth  hull."  And  such  "hulls!" 
They  include  the  "New  Jersey"  and  "Rhode  Island,"  first-class 
battleships,  15,000  tons  each;  the  "Vermont,"  16,000  tons;  to  say 
nothing  of  the  seven-masted  steel  schooner  "T.  W.  Lawson,"  the 
six-masted  steel  schooner  "Wm.  L.  Douglas,"  ten-thousand-ton 
freight  and  passenger  steamers,  protected  cruisers,  whole  fleets  of 
torpedo  boats,  submarines,  car  floats,  oil  barges,  and  other  levia- 
tlians  of  tlie  deep.  Some  four  thousand  men  are  employed.  Every- 
thing about  a  ship  is  made  here,  —  hulls  and  engines,  woodwork  and 
steel  work.  A  walk  through  the  immense  shops  reveals  miracles 
wrought  upon  iron,  steel,  and  wood  by  automatic  machinery,  great 
blast  furnaces,  and  the  brawnv  arms  of  swart  workmen.  Admiral 
Francis  T.  Bowles  is  president  of  the  company;  H.  G.  Smith,  man- 
ager;  J.  A.  Sedgwick,  treasurer;  Samuel  Tupper  MacQuarrie,  clerk. 

In  enumerating  the  many  advantages  of  Quincy,  one  cannot  help 
asking,  "Is  there  any  other  community  in  the  State  more  highly 
favored.^"  Its  population  is  over  30,000  now;  it  may  be  over 
40.000  in  a  decade.  An  influential  "Citizens  Association"  is  guiding 
this  growth, — president,  Henry  L.  Kincaiile;  vice-president,  Russel 
A.  Sears;  secretary,  Charles  H.  Burgess;  treasurer,  Nathan  G.  Nick- 
erson.  These  point  out  the  rare  advantages  for  almost  any  industry 
afforded  bv  Quincy's  water  and  railway  facilities.     Indeed,  this  region 


CLARENCE   BURGIN 


UEOKCE  K.  FFAKK.MANN 


58 

early  became  noted  among  the  towns  of  Massachusetts  for  its  manu- 
factures. There  was  the  iron  works  established  in  IGVS,  and  the 
glass  works  and  the  stocking  weaving  by  General  Joseph  Palmer  in 
1752,  and  the  coach  lace  business  by  Wilson  Marsh,  and  the  shoe 
business,  Noah  Curtis  in  1794  being  one  of  the  pioneers  of  it,  and  the 
Whichers  and  Drakes  carrying  it  on  in  these  later  years.  Now  there 
is  to  be  added  such  flourishing  establishments  as  the  Tubular  Rivet 
and  Stud  Company,  which,  like  a  tree,  shows  annually  its  ring  of 
growth,  and  the  Translucent  Fabric  Company,  and  the  Boston  Gear 
Works,  and  the  Wollaston  Foundry,  and  more  besides. 


POWER  STATION.   MASSACHUSETTS  ELECTRIC  COMPANIES 


IIIE  electrical  plants  which  have  sprung  up  in  Quincy 
constitute  a  most  distinctive  feature  in  the  city's  in- 
dustrial progress.  The  power  station  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Electric  Comj^anies  at  the  Point  is  the 
largest  and  finest  equipped  establishment  of  the  kind 
ill  the  State.  To  nearly  all  of  the  lines  controlled  by 
this  company  (a  total  of  871  miles,  serving  eighty-eight  towns  and 
cities,  aggregating  a  population  of  1,6.39,875)  it  furnishes  a  high  ten- 
sion alternating  system.  Its  magnificent  steam  turbine  engines  sujj- 
ply  15,000  horse  power. 


59 

THE  Quiiuy  Klcctric  Li^'lit  and  Power  ("oinpaiiy  is  wholly  a 
local  institution,  built  u|)  by  local  enter})rise  and  stimulating 
to  local  pride.  Established  in  188'2,  when  elect  rlc  develop- 
ments were  in  their  infancy,  the  company  grew  with  the  growth  of 
the  town.  In  19(H  the  old  plant  with  all  its  machinery  was  discarded, 
and  an  entirely  new  building  erected  at  a  convenient  point  on  Town 
River.  It  is  equipped  with  the  finest  directly  connected  units  of  a 
total  capacity  of  '■2. 000  horse  power.  Situated,  as  it  is,  near  the  busi- 
ness centre  of  the  city,  and  with  the  chance  to  expand  at  the  demand 
of  an  increasing  population,  it  is  fitted  to  give  the  very  best  service. 


OriNCV    Kl.KCTKIC  1. 1(1111    AND   ToWKK  COMPANY 

TIIK  hciicvolcnt  .111(1  charitable  deeds  of  the  residents  of  Quincy 
have  never  been  lacking  in  aid  of  the  distressed  among  tliciii. 
The  Fragment  Society,  formed  in  First  Church,  has  for  fifty 
years  clothed  the  naked  without  regard  to  their  denominational  rela- 


60 

tions.  Its  president  is  Mrs.  Thomas  Fenno,  its  secretary  Mrs.  E.  B. 
Marsh.  For  about  as  long  a  time  tlie  Quincy  Charitable  Society  has 
given  food  and  fuel  to  the  needy.  Its  power  to  do  good  has  been  greatly 
increased  by  the  gift  of  $10,000  by  the  late  Elias  A.  Perkins.  The 
Rev.  Edward  Norton  is  president,  and  Mrs.  Helen  L.  Bass  is  treas- 
urer. The  faitliful  secretary  for  more  than  thirty  years,  Mrs.  C.  A. 
Spear,  has  been  lately  succeeded  by  Mrs.  Thomas  A.  Addison.  All 
the  helpful  service  rendered  by  these  and  kindred  organizations  is 
re-enforced  by  the  wise  benefaction  of  Professor  Jeffrey  R.  Brackett. 
He  has  given  the  fine  "Brackett  House,"  formerly  the  home  of  his 
father,  to  a  charitable  trust  which  leases  it  without  charge  to  the 
"Quincy  Women's  Club."  The  objects  of  this  club  are  social  and 
humanitarian.  The  officers  of  the  club  are:  president,  Mrs.  E.  C. 
Bumj)us;  recording  secretary,  Mrs.  John  W.  Sanborn;  correspond- 
ing secretary,  Mrs.  Wilson  Marsh;  treasurer.  Miss  Annie  L.  Prescott. 

THE  parks  and  park-ways  of  Quincy  are  by  no  means  the  least 
of  her  advantages.  True  foresight,  as  well  as  public  spirit, 
were  manifested  by  Charles  Francis  Adams,  the  younger, 
when  he  gave  Merry-Mount  Park  to  the  city  in  1885.  To-day  its 
eighty-nine  acres  of  beautifully  diversified  shore  land  are  appreciated 
by  all.  This  was  not  the  case  a  little  before  1885,  when  the  obstruc- 
tionists were  in  such  force  that  a  vote  could  not  be  obtained  in  town 
meeting  to  buy  at  a  low  price  this  desirable  ];)roperty.  It  was  on  top 
of  this  refusal  and  the  disregard  of  his  sagacious  arguments  that 
Mr.  Adams  himself  bought  the  land,  and  bestowed  it  upon  his  fellow- 
citizens, — a  most  magnanimous  act.  It  is  a  natural  park.  The  com- 
missioners who  have  been  so  careful  to  conserve  its  best  features — 
George  E.  Pfaffmann,  Fred  B.  Rice,  Dexter  E.  Wadsworth — have 
done  little  more  than  follow  the  leadings  of  nature. 

Faxon  Park  is  another  large  breathing-space  wliich  has  been  given 
to  the  city.  It  was  carved  out  of  the  homestead  on  which  Henry  H. 
Faxon  was  born,  and  given  by  that  ardent  reformer  to  his  native 
town.  It  is  situated  on  the  side  of  Penn's  Hill,  picturesque  in  its 
ledges,  desirable  in  the  wide  views  it  affords,  and  convenient  to  a  part 
of  the  town  which  is  becoming  quite  thickly  settled. 


HENRY  L.  EMERY 


BRACKETT  HOUSE-QVINCY  WOMEX'.s  (MB 


62 


OF  all  our  helpful  institutions  few  may  outrank  the  No-License 
vote,  now  overwhelmingly  cast  for  24  years!     It   is  another 
"Quincy  system"   keeping  clean    the    Avays    of  the   city,  for 
which  we  are  especially  indebted  to  Henry  H.  Faxon.     He  still  lives 
in  the  renewed  devotion  of  the  No-License  Committee  and  of  Miss 
Eva  M.  Brown,  his  faithful  secretary  for  years. 


BETHANY  CHURCH 


ST.  .JOHN'S  CHURCH 


THE  Quincy  City  Hospital,  the  gift  of  the  Hon.  William  B.  Rice, 
rounds  out  magnificently  the  philanthropic  institutions  of  the 
City  of  Presidents.  Dr.  John  A.  Gordon,  who  first  broached 
the  idea  of  a  hospital  for  Quincy,  and  who  labored  so  tirelessly  in  the 
beginning  of  things,  is  still  one  of  the  consulting  physicians,  Since 
its  organization  Mr.  Rice  has  been  president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
and  Mr.  Timothy  Reed  secretary.  The  Hospital  Aid  Association, 
a  ladies'  society,  of  which  Mrs.  Joseph  C.  Morse  is  president,  ^Nlrs. 
Alice  D.  Sanborn,  secretary  and  Mrs.  Thomas  Fenno,  treasurer, 
is  instrumental  in  promoting  interest  in  the  hospital  and  in  directing 
into  practical  channels  the  sympathy  and  gifts  of  the  people. 


63 

ABOUT  34  c-lnirchcs  earnestly  labor  to  re-enforce  the  moral  and 
s|jiritnal  elements  of  the  community.  Christ  Church.  Rev.  W. 
K.  Gardner,  rector,  is  the  place  of  worship  of  the  oldest 
Episcopalian  society  in  New  England.  It  was  formally  organized 
in  1701,  and  was  the  church  of  Governor  Shirley,  the  Vassalls,  Mil- 
lers, Borlands,  Apthorps.  In  1828,  mass  was  celehrated  for  the  first 
time  in  Quincy,  in  the  presence  of  a  number  of  Catholics,  at  West 
Quincy.  This  led  to  the  building  of  St.  Mary's  Church  in  1842,  and 
St.  John's,  which  has  grown  to  be  the  largest,  in  1853.  The  Univer- 
salists  had  services  here  as  early  as  1830,  and  in  1832  they  erected  an 
edifice.  The  Rev.  W.  S.  Perkins,  D.D.  is  their  present  pastor.  Beth- 
any Church  (Evangelical  Congregational),  which  has  long  been  one  of 
the  largest  religious  societies  in  the  community,  was  organized  in  1832. 
Its  pastor  is  the  Rev.  E.  X.  Hardy.  The  other  churches  are  of 
nuich  later  growth. 


QIINCY  MUTUAL  FIKE  INSrKAN<  K  COMI'ANY 


WITH  all  these  institutions  go  the  uplifting  influences  of  the 
I'ul)lic    Library,-   the    people's    college.      In    the    old    days 
there  was  a  "Quincy  Social  Library,"   which  was  "owned 
l)y  a  number  of  |»ropriet()rs,  and  intended  for  a  circulating  library." 
About  the  year  1870,  the  late  Charles  A.  Foster  aroused  interest  in  the 


V#     ^->     W      u^ 


^-G^aO^- 


64 


jjroject  of  a  pub- 
lic library.  Nine 
years  later  Mrs. 
Thomas  Crane  and 
her  two  sons,  in 
memory  of  Thom- 
as Crane,  gave  to 
the  town  Crane 
Memorial  Hull  for 
the  uses  of  a  pub- 
lic library.  It  was 
designed  by  H.  H. 
Richardson. 


(1<  AM',   MlMi  iRlAI,   HALL 


WATER  TOWKK  OX  FOKBKS  HU.I 


Quincy  is  included  in  the  Met- 
ropolitan District,  shares  the  ad- 
vantages of  the  Metropolitan 
Park  System.  Sewer  System, 
Water  System.  In  short,  it  is  an 
inse])arable  part  of  that  magnifi- 
cent Metrojjolis,  central  in  Boston 
and  ultimately  to  extend  in  a 
ten-mile  circuit  on  every  side  of 
contiguous  homes  and  commer- 
cial  and  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments. This  is  symbolized 
in  the  beautiful  water  tower 
which  crowns  Forbes  Hill,  which 
is  easily  the  finest  thing  of  its  kind 
in  the  State.  May  Quincy,  al- 
though incorporated  within  the 
Metroi)olitan  District,  never  be 
lost  in  it,  but  rejoice  forever  in 
the  distinction  of  its  historical 
persons  and  places,  its  stately 
liomes,  its  noble  natural  features! 


BOOKS    ABOUT    OUINCY 


Cn*' 


Qiiiiicy,  as  \vl-  all  kiiuw,  pioscnts  materials  lor  an  unusually  iiiir 
story;  yet  how  easily  it  might  be  marred  in  the  telling!  Fortunately, 
the  person  peculiarly  fitted  for  the  task,  not  merely  by  his  love  for 
this  ancient  community,  but  by  his  position  in  the  line  of  conveyance 
of  the  lore  of  the  past,  generously  responded.  Charles  Francis 
Adams,  the  younger,  wrote  his  "Three  Episodes  of  Massachusetts 
History."  A  -ounding  title  for  a  local  chronicle,  yet  how  happy 
a  stroke  for  Quincy!  In  the  surpassing  story  of  this  single  town  he 
illustrates  tlie  evolution  of  a  .state.  To  this  plan  events  and  traditions 
lent  themselves  wonderfully.  It  is  a  book  to  be  jn-ized  by  all  of  the 
"ancient  stock,"  and  to  be  read  with  delight  by  such  as  take  pleasure 
in  the  fascinating  story  of  the  making  of  Massachusetts.  Published 
in  two  volumes  by  Houghton,  Mifflin    &  Co.,  and  sold  for  $4. 

That  other  book  about  Quincy,  with  a  .still  more  sounding  title, — 
"Where  American  Independence  Began,"  by  Daniel  Munro  Wilson, 
— aspires  to  be  a  popular  account  of  the  men  and  women  who  have 
made  Quincy  famous.  "It  is  swollen  with  illustrations,"  as  a  critic 
wrote  deprecalingly.  But  they  are  fine,  and  you  will  not  wish  to 
spare  one  of  the  entire  sixty-five.  Homes  and  places,  as  well  as  per- 
sons, are  pictured.  The  foregoing  "  Sketch"  is  a  sample.  Altogether, 
text  and  illustrations,  as  the  superior  critic  writes,  make  "a  book 
that  ought  to  be  read  by  every  daughter  and  son  of  Revolutionary 
sires,  for  it  will  make  the  blood  run  faster  and  the  good  old  American 
spirit  revive."  The  price  of  the  book  is  $2.25,  and  the  publishers 
are  Houghton,  MifBin  &  Co. 

Still  another  book  dealing,  in  a  measure,  with  Quincy,  or  drawing 
some  of  its  inspiration  from  Quincy,  is  "Pedagogues  and  Parents," 
by  Ella  Calista  W^ilson.  Written  for  parents  chiefly,  to  help  them 
to  see  and  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  right  education  of  their  chil- 
dren, it  yet  has  proved  very  attractive  to  teachers.  A  circle  of  about 
.500  of  them  in  one  of  our  large  cities  was  devoted  this  past  winter  to 
considering  its  many  inspiring  and  radical  suggestions.  Written 
"with  wit  and  due  sentiment," — "no  small  amount  of  fun  is  mixed 
with  the  dead  earnestness  of  the  author's  purpose," — "so  rich  in  apt 
quotation,  so  sparkling,  and  so  original," — "we  wish,  not  hope, 
that  this  delightful  little  volume,  more  entertaining  than  nine-tenths 
of  the  fiction  of  the  day,  might  speedily  be  enrolled  among  the  'best- 
selling  books.  "  So  WTite  the  reviewers.  Heniy  Holt  &  Co.  are 
the  publishers.     Price  $1.25. 


